For the first time in more than three decades, there are no British riders in the elite women’s road race at the UCI Road World Championships this year.
Great Britain’s 25-rider squad for the championships in Rwanda, announced on Tuesday, counts just one entrant in the elite women’s events: Anna Henderson, who will only compete in the time trial.
Despite qualifying a full six-rider team for the elite women’s road race, GB is turning its focus instead to the under-23 event. The under-23 title was previously awarded to the highest-placed finisher under 23 years old in the elite women’s road race, but will run as a separate event for the first time this year.
The last time there were no British entrants in the women’s road race at the World Championships was 1994. Since then, two Brits have won the event: Nicole Cooke in 2008 and Lizzie Deignan in 2015.
“Of course, it’s not nice for them [the elite riders] to miss out on the opportunity to go,” said Cat Ferguson, an elite pro for WorldTour team Movistar, who will lead the British squad in the under-23 race.
“It’s a tough one. I think we have really good female riders in both categories this year, and of course, probably whatever happens, if we took a smaller under-23 squad, meaning we could take elites, then maybe there’d be criticism, but then we’re diluting it and there’s less focus on one category.”
In recent years, British Cycling has taken a targeted approach to squad selection, prioritising events in which they have medal prospects. The governing body’s budget for the Great Britain Cycling Team comes as part of its Olympic cycle funding, which must be managed across four years. The Rwanda World Championships fall at the start of the second year of the Los Angeles 2028 cycle.
The challenging courses in Rwanda – billed as the hardest ever – and the expensive logistics costs have also played a role in different federations’ squad selections. Denmark, for example, is not sending any riders to compete in the elite time trials, or the under-23 or junior events. The Netherlands, Italy and Ireland are also all taking reduced squads.
For Great Britain, performance director Stephen Park said, the Rwanda Worlds offers “huge development opportunities for our younger riders to get a taste of racing at this level”.
“The event provides a tough course that will ask a lot from our riders, but I am confident that, as ever, they are up to the task and will bring home some fantastic results,” Park added.
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